![comanche indians comanche indians](https://cdn2.newsok.biz/cache/r960-dbe0282dfaf925beeabefa458295a15a.jpg)
![comanche indians comanche indians](https://cdn.britannica.com/15/195915-050-42C272F6/Comanche-Indians-tepee-Fort-Sill-Oklahoma.jpg)
With this new arrangement, the era of the Comanche reservation came to an abrupt end.īesides language, Comanches retained other traits of the Shoshoni. New allotments were made in 1906 to all children born after the Jerome Agreement, and the remaining land was opened to white settlement. government negotiated the Jerome Agreement with the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches, further reducing their reservation to 480,000 acres (1,940 km²) at a cost of $1.25 per acre ($308.88/km²), with an allotment of 160 acres (0.6 km²) per person per tribe to be held in trust. By 1880 both the buffalo and a way of life for the Comanches were gone.” – B. The battle was disastrous for the Indians. Although the hunters were greatly outnumbered, the Indians were defeated because of the protection offered by the fort itself and the long range buffalo rifles used by the hunters. Comanches, Kiowas and Cheyenne attacked the hunters who were using the abandoned fort in their quest to kill the buffalo for their hides. “The Battle of Adobe Walls took place in the panhandle of Texas in 1874. In 1845, an Adobe fort was built there to house the post, but it was blown up by the traders three years later after repeated Indian attacks. The battle resulted in light casualties on both sides but was one of the largest engagements fought on the Great Plains.Īdobe Walls was the name of a trading post in the Texas Panhandle, just north of the Canadian River. After forcing the American retreat to high ground the natives assaulted continually until a successful United States counterattack was launched. The Kiowa, Comanche and Plains Apache tribes drove from the battlefield a United States Expeditionary Force that was reacting to attacks on white settlers moving into the Southwest. The First Battle of Adobe Walls (1874) was one of the largest ever battles between United States Army and Native Americans. By the time the American army invaded northern Mexico in 1846 during the Mexican-American War the region was devastated. The Comanche-Mexican Wars refers to conflicts fought from 1821 to 1848 and consisting of large-scale raids into northern Mexico by Comanches and their Kiowa allies which left thousands of people dead. This practice led to many wars with the Spanish, the American settlers, and other Plains tribes.Īlthough Comanches had acquired their first firearms from French traders as early as the 1740s, they continued to rely heavily on their traditional weapons: the lance and the bow and arrow, and they were formidable opponents who developed strategies for using traditional weapons for fighting on horseback. They began to steal horses from other tribes and settlers, which gave them the reputation of being as formidable horse, and later, cattle thieves. The French from Louisiana were first, followed by the Americans, and Comanches were hard-pressed to keep pace with the rising demand. Horses were prevalent in the Comanche tribe, and by the early 1800s, Comanches had horses in numbers beyond the dreams of other tribes, which helped them to become profitable traders.Īs the horse with its corresponding buffalo culture spread, Comanches found other markets for their horses. The Comanche population increased because of the large amount of buffalo, an influx of Shoshone people, and the captives taken from rival groups. Comanche skills on horseback quickly reached levels which, in many ways, exceeded those of Europeans. Besides its mobility, buffalo were easy to hunt, and mounted warriors enjoyed a tremendous advantage in warfare. The horse radically changed the lives of the Comanches for the better. They migrated to the southern Great Plains, the Arkansas River, and to central Texas.Ĭomanches are believed to have been the first native people on the plains to utilize the horse extensively, and as such, they were the source for other plains tribes of the horses that made the buffalo culture possible. Before contact with Europeans, the Comanches were part of the southern groups of Eastern Shoshoni that lived near the upper reaches of the Platte River in eastern Wyoming.Īfter acquiring the horse, Comanche groups separated from the Shoshoni and began to move south, sometime around 1700.